Abstract: Drawing is a radical gesture. In “Desseins : le dessin comme posture performative où la
contemplation s’avère aussi une forme d’action”, artist and researcher Hélène Matte is demonstrating
it. To illustrate her intentions, she leans on the etymology of the word and on Nietzsche’s
writings on the contemplative, as well as on her portraits of activists and on her own drawings
realized in situations of civil disobedience. From “dessein” to nietzschean reverie, it is the liveliness
of the process that determines its value. Finally, the medium, in relation to time and in comparison
to other mediums, also serves as argument: while photography leaves proof, doesn’t the drawing
act as witness?